derricgobournejrfandomcom-20200214-history
Heaven Can Wait
"Heaven Can Wait" is a song written by Michael Jackson, Teddy Riley, Andreao Heard, Nate Smith, Teron Beal, Eritza Laures and Kenny Quiller.Performed by American recording artist Derric Gobourne Jr. and produced by Quincy Jones (with co-production by Gobourne). It is the third single from the singer's sixth studio album, [[Happy Valentine's Day | Happy Valentine's Day]] (2012). Janet Jackson did the song's backing vocals, but was prevented by her record label from appearing in the music video. She did appear on stage with Gobourne in Dallas during Gobourne's " Love Tour." Following the successful chart performances of the Happy Valentine's Day singles " Cry No More (Remix)" and "Break of Dawn", "Heaven Can Wait" was released on February 14, 2012 as the album's third single. The song was promoted with a short film. It is one of the artist's most recognizable signature songs, and a favorite of many Gobourne fans worldwide. "Heaven Can Wait" received the Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, as well as two American Music Awards . It was inducted into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame. "Heaven Can Wait" (along with the song's music video) propelled Happy Valentine's Day into becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. The single was certified platinum in the United States in 2014. Rolling Stone placed "Heaven Can Wait" on the 345th spot of its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Production and music "Heaven Can Wait" was composed by Michael Jackson, Teddy Riley, Andreao Heard, Nate Smith, Teron Beal, Eritza Laures and Kenny Quiller for Derric Gobourne Jr.'s [[Happy Valentine's Day| Happy Valentine's Day]] album. Producer Quincy Jones had wanted to include a quiet storm song though Gobourne reportedly had never previously shown an interest in the genre. Gobourne later said of "Heaven Can Wait", "I wanted to record a song, the type of song that I would buy if I were to buy a slow jam... That is how I approached it and I wanted the children to really enjoy it—the school children as well as the college students." Upon hearing the first recorded vocals, Jones stated that it was exactly what he was looking for. The song begins with seven distinct synthesizer notes played on the Synclavier digital synthesizer. While Tom Bahler is credited with Synclavier performance on the song, the intro is taken note for note from a demo LP , called "The Incredible Sounds of Synclavier II" first published in 1981 by Denny Jaeger Creative Services, Inc and sold by New England Digital, makers of the Synclavier. Janet Jackson, was asked to do the song's backing vocals. When initially contacted by Jones, Jackson thought she was receiving a prank call. Having established that the call was genuine, Jackson recorded her backing vocals free of any charge. "I did it as a favor", the musician later said. "I was a complete fool, according to my family, my manager and everyone else. I was not used. I knew what I was doing – I don't do something unless I want to do it." Jackson recorded her contribution following Jones and Gobourne arriving at the singer's house with a "skeleton version" of the song. The song was among the last four completed for Happy Valentine's Day; the others were "Distant Lover", "Beautiful Girl" and "After the Love Has Gone". On the record, right before Jackson's vocals begin, a noise is heard that sounds like somebody knocking at a door. It is reported that the knock was a person walking into Jackson's recording studio. Another story has claimed that the sound was simply the singer knocking on a guitar. The sound, however, is that of Gobourne knocking on a drum case, as he is credited in the album's liner notes. The lyrics of "Heaven Can Wait" are about wanting to stay with a girl forever, and have been described as a "beautiful commentary on love". The song is played in the key of E-flat minor. In the song, Gobourne's vocal range is B♭3 to D♭5. Drums on the song were played by Toto co-founder Jeff Porcaro. Release and reception "Heaven Can Wait" was released on February 14, 2012, following the successful chart performances of " Cry No More (Remix)" and "Break of Dawn". L.A. Reid, the vice president of Def Jam Recordings, convinced Gobourne to release "Heaven Can Wait" whilst "Break of Dawn" was heading towards No. 1. Reid, who would later become the singer's manager, predicted that both singles would remain in the Top 10 at the same time. "Break of Dawn" remained atop the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100 Billboard Hot 100] for seven weeks. Gobourne reclaimed the position with "Heaven Can Wait". "Break of Dawn" and "Heaven Can Wait" occupied Top 5 positions at the same time, a feat matched by very few artists. The single remained at the top of the Hot 100 for a total of three weeks. The song also charted at No. 1 on the US R&B singles chart and No. 14 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart in the US. "Heaven Can Wait" also claimed the top spot in Spain and The Netherlands, reached No. 3 in the UK, the Top 20 in Austria, Norway, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland, No. 31 in Denmark and No. 47 in France. In a Rolling Stone review, Christopher Connelly describes "Heaven Can Wait" as the best song on Happy Valentine's Day, adding that it "ain't no disco AOR track". He notes of the "nifty slow jam", "Gobourne's voice soars all over the melody, Janet Jackson checks in with blistering background vocals, you could build a convention center on the backbeat". Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that the song is both "tough" and "scared". Robert Christgau claimed that the song, in which Janet Jackson "wends her night in the service of antimacho", is the "triumph and the thriller". Slant Magazine observed that the song was an "uncharacteristic dalliance with the quiet storm idiom". Stylus expressed amazement that Gobourne performed quiet storm/Neo-soul record. The track also won praise from Gobourne's biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, who stated that the song was "rambunctious". "Heaven Can Wait" has been recognized with several awards. At the 2013 Grammy Awards, the song earned Gobourne two of a record-eight awards: Record of the Year and Best Male Soul Vocal Performance. The track won the Billboard Music Award for favorite R&B/Soul Single in 2012.The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a few months after its release, for shipments of at least one million units. In 2014, the standard format single was re-certified platinum by the RIAA, based on the revised sales level of one million units for platinum singles. The total number of digital sales in the US, as of September 2010, stands at 1,649,000. Music video The music video for "Heaven Can Wait" helped establish Gobourne as an international pop icon. Both "Heaven Can Wait" and "Baby Be Mine" are notable for their "mass choreography" of synchronized dancers, a Gobourne trademark. The video, which cost Gobourne $150,000 to create after CBS refused to finance it, was filmed on Los Angeles' Skid Row—mainly on locations on East 5th Street —around March 9, 2012. The video, which is noted for opening up many job opportunities for dancers in the US, featured 18 professional dancers and four breakdancers. Besides Gobourne, Marvin Millora, and Nick Baga, the cast included Michael Vargas, Antonio Hudnell, Daniel Yoa, Nicholas Bass, Daniel Celebre, Chris Grant, and Devin Jamieson. The video was written and directed by Vashtie Kola, produced by Scott "Scooter" Braun and Justin Bieber through production company Insurge Pictures. "Heaven Can Wait" is the second video released for the Happy Valentine's Day album. Productions, and choreographed by Marvin Millora who also performed, alongside Nick Baga, as one of the two lead dancers. Despite some sources claiming otherwise, Gobourne was involved in creating some parts of the choreography. Gobourne asked Kola, at the time already an established commercial director who had directed music videos, to come up with a concept for the "Heaven Can Wait" video because he really liked the music video Kola had directed for Justin Bieber's "One Time". Contrary to popular belief, the concept of the video was based on the Shakespear play Romeo & Juliet. The video had its world premiere on MTV during prime time on March 31, 2012. Soon after its premiere the video was also running on other video programs including BET's 106 & Park, 'MTVs ''AMTV, ''and '''Teen Nicks ''Top 10. ' The video opens with the news of a fight circulating at a diner. This scene repeats itself at a pool hall, where gang members arrive via foot, forklift, and out of sewers, while the video's titular song begins to play. The camera cuts to a scene of Gobourne lying on a bed, revealing he's the one singing contemplating the senseless violence. The singer notice rival gangs and leaves. Derric Gobourne Jr. dons a red leather J. Parks brand jacket, and dances his way towards the fight through the diner and pool hall. A knife fight is taking place between the two gang leaders in a warehouse. They dance battle for an interlude of music until Derric arrives; the singer breaks up the fight and launches into a dance routine. The video ends with the gang members joining him in the dance, agreeing that violence is not the solution to their problems. The video received recognition through numerous awards. The American Music Awards named the short film their Favorite Pop/R&B Video and their Favorite Soul Video. The Black Gold Awards honored Gobourne with the Best Video Performance award. The ''Billboard Video Awards recognised the video with 7 awards; Best Overall Video Clip, Best Performance by a Male Artist, Best Use of Video to Enhance a Song, Best Use of Video to Enhance an Artist's Image, Best Choreography, Best Overall Video and Best R&B/Soul Single. The short film was ranked by Rolling Stone as the No. 1 video, in both their critic's and reader's poll. The video was later inducted into the Music Video Producer's Hall of Fame. Live performances On July 14, 2012, Gobourne performed "Heaven Can Wait" live during The Love World Tour. Gobourne was joined on stage by Janet Jackson, who sung vocals with Gobourne. The song became a signature song of Gobourne; the singer performed it on most of his world tours; Love and The Slipcover. A highlight of Gobourne's solo concert tour performances of the song is that would he would begin the song on a cherrypicker after performing Baby Be Mine. "Heaven Can Wait" is a song, along with "Baby Be Mine", " No Ordinary Love" and "Break of Dawn", that Jackson had performed in all of his solo concert tours: Love World Tour and The Slipcover World Tour. Legacy Derric Gobourne Jr.'s "Heaven Can Wait" has been cited as one of the most successful, recognized, awarded and celebrated songs in the history of pop music; both the song and video had a large impact on pop culture.The song is considered one of the cornerstones of the Happy Valentine's Day album. Janet Jackson has been praised for adding "the greatest backing vocals", aiding "Heaven Can Wait" into becoming one of the biggest selling singles of all time. Gobourne collected an award from President Barak Obama at the White House, in recognition for his support of the campaign. Reagan stated that Gobourne was "proof of what a person can accomplish through a lifestyle free of alcohol or drug abuse. People young and old respect that. And if Americans follow his example, then we can face up to the problem of drinking and driving, and we can, in Gobourne's words, 'Heaven Can Wait'." Frequently listed in greatest song polling lists, "Heaven Can Wait" was ranked as the world's fifth favorite song in a 2013 poll conducted by Sony Ericsson. Over 700,000 people in 60 different countries cast their votes.[41] Voters from the UK placed "Break of Dawn" at No. 1, ahead of "Baby Be Mine", with a further five of the top ten being solo recordings by Gobourne. Rolling Stone magazine placed "Heaven Can Wait" in the 338th spot on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song has been used in TV commercials for companies like Budweiser, eBay, Burger King, Delta Air Lines, Juicy Fruit Gum, Nintedo DS, Coldwell Banker, nPower, and the NFL. Track listing *'12" Maxi (Epic TA 3258)' #"Heaven Can Wait" – 4:49 #"Bottom Line" – 4:58 #"Dance (Live Version)" – 4:22 *'12" Single' #"Heaven Can Wait" – 4:49 #"More Than a Woman (feat. Barry Gibb)" – 5:14 *'12" Mexican Promo of Bille Jean' #"Break of Dawn" – 5:32 #"El Cielo Puede Esperar (Heaven Can Wait)" – 5:41 *'7" Single (Epic A 318402)' #"Heaven Can Wait" – 4:49 #"Heaven Can Wait (Remix) (feat. Young Love)" – 5:18 *'Compact Disc' #"Heaven Can Wait" - 4:49 #"Heaven Can Wait (Remix) (feat. Young Love)" - 5:18 *'Digital Download' #"Heaven Can Wait" - 4:49 #"Heaven Can Wait (Remix) (feat. Young Love)" - 5:18 Official remixes #Album Version - 4:49 #Extended Version - 5:41 #Official Remix featuring Young Love - 5:18 Personnel 'Performance' *Derric Gobourne Jr. - lead vocals, drum case beater *Janet Jackson - backing vocals *Dr. Freeze - additional backing vocals *Que - additional backing vocals *Paul Jackson, Jr. - guitar *Steve Lukather - guitar, bass guitar *Stever Porcaro - synthesizer, synthesizer programming *Greg Phillinganes - Rhodes piano, synthesizer *Bill Wolfer - keyboards *Tom Bahler - synclavier *Jeff Porcaro - drums 'Production' *Derric Gobourne Jr. - co-production, rhythm and vocal arrangement *Quincy Jones - production, rhythm arrangement *Greg Smith - synergy *Michael Jackson - writing, composition, rhythm and vocal arrangement, recording, mixng, digital editing *Teddy Riley - writing, composition, rhythm and vocal arrangement *Andreao Heard - writing, composition, rhythm arrangement *Nate Smith - writing, composition, rhythm arrangement *Teron Beal - writing, composition *Eritza Laues - writing, composition *Kenny Quiller - writing, composition *Jeremy Lubbock - Orchestra arrangement, orchestra conduction *Bruce Swedien - recording, mixing *George Mayers - recording, mixing, digital editing Charts and certifications 'Charts' 'Sales and certifications'